Your Heart's Desire
by ToryTigress92
Summary: Set between Seasons 6 and 7, heavily AU. Phoebe is haunted by dreams of a future now lost, but is it as lost as it seems? Could a man she thought dead and vanquished return to give her her heart's desire.


Your Heart's Desire

**Set between Seasons 6 and 7, so Leo hasn't become an avatar yet. Massively AU one-shot. And Phoebe has long hair, because I think she looks prettier with long hair.**

**I do not own Charmed or any of its associated characters, trademarks, themes etc.**

**If I did Gideon wouldn't have died. Or at least, he wouldn't have been evil.**

* * *

_Phoebe…_

Phoebe tossed and turned in bed, the covers catching around her legs.

She was having _**that**_ dream again.

_Phoebe…_

At that last whisper, Phoebe sat bolt upright in bed, gasping for breath. Her skin was slick with sweat, as she glanced sideways at herself in her bedroom mirror.

It was _**that**_ dream again, the same one she always had, the same one she'd suffered since that incident with Gideon and Wyatt.

The same vision she'd seen with that shaman. Walking through the manor, past all the demons that attacked her and into the light, seeing that same heavenly vision: her, pregnant, with Paige a teacher at Magic School, and Piper happily looking after Chris and Wyatt.

It would play out the same, with Paige asking Piper to take her to the doctor's, and Piper talking about her daughter and then Piper would turn to ask her something, just as a pair of warm, strong arms encircled her from behind. Then everything would go black, and she felt like a vital part of her had been ripped away, irreparable.

Then she'd wake up, shaking and crying, that voice whispering in her mind.

That voice she knew she knew, but could not seem to place.

Shivering, Phoebe got up, throwing a woollen shrug around her shift-clad body while she sat at her bedroom window seat, and looked out on the full moon.

What did it all mean? Had the death of Chris changed everything?There was no one to answer her questions, as that voice, that infinitely familiar and yet unknowable voice, once again filtered into her brain.

_Phoebe…_

* * *

"Happy Halloween!" Paige's exuberant yell cut across Phoebe's absorption as she stirred her morning coffee. She glanced up at her baby sister unseeingly.

"Huh?" she muttered, still yawning. She had sat by her window all night, sleepless and boy was she feeling it now!

"Technically Halloween isn't something to be happy about, Paige," Piper muttered from the stove, where she was cooking breakfast. Waffles and bacon, from the smell of it.

"Oh come on, it's a holiday," Paige replied, sitting down at the kitchen counter by her middle sister.

"Yeah, until the demons come calling," Phoebe sighed, with a look at Piper. Chris started crying, as the eldest Halliwell went to look to her youngest son. Phoebe watched her with envy, remembering her dreams, full of yearning.

_Phoebe…_

Unaware of Phoebe's preoccupation, Paige continued to rabbit on, unthinkingly.

"Well I for one am going to make sure this is a Halloween we never forget! Come on, it'll be fun!" she pleaded. "Let's go out tonight, dress up!"

"Paige, we're a little old for trick or treating," Piper murmured, shooting a concerned look at her middle sister. "Phoebe?"

"Yeah, what?" she snapped out of her trance, meeting the worried eyes of her eldest sister.

"You ok? You look kinda…spaced out," Piper asked, watching her intently.

"I'm fine," Phoebe replied a little too quickly, not convincing her older sister.

Brow furrowing, Piper opened her mouth but Paige beat her to it.

"Still not sleeping? Those dreams again?" she asked sympathetically.

"Maybe you should talk to Leo about them," Piper suggested before Phoebe could open her mouth.

"Its not-" she began but Paige cut her off with another question.

"Or is it your biological clock ticking again?"

"Not exa-" Phoebe was again cut off, but by Piper this time.

"Oh not _that _neuroses again!" she sighed dramatically rolling her eyes, but Phoebe lost it.

"It's not that any of that! Just drop it, ok!" she yelled, irritably flicking her hair out of her face from where it had grown longer.

"Hey quit with the crankiness! We're just worried, Pheebs," Piper snapped back, annoyance mixed with concern.

Sighing, Phoebe visibly deflated, slumping forward onto the kitchen counter.

"I don't know, it's just….I feel like something's missing. Like I've lost something important, but I don't know what," she murmured awkwardly. "And since I lost my powers, I don't know how to find out what I've lost."

Piper left the stove, to embrace her sister reassuringly, Paige reaching across the counter to take Phoebe's hand.

"Hey, it's ok. You still got us, and Wyatt and Chris," she murmured, at which Phoebe smiled wanly.

"How about I call the club, get someone to cover for me, call Sheila to take the boys and we go shopping today?" Piper suggested. Phoebe was really too tired, but to please her sisters she nodded, and pretended to be excited.

* * *

Several hours and four department stores later, the three sisters were just leaving the mall, when the sounds of a struggle reached their ears.

"Uh oh, doesn't sound good," Piper sighed melodramatically.

"What did you say about demons and Halloween?" Phoebe replied teasingly. The afternoon had been a good one, after all. It helped her to take her mind off things.

Paige glanced surreptitiously around the parking lot, before gesturing with her hands. Their bags orbed away in a bright cloud of blue, as the three sisters turned towards the source of the commotion.

They followed the noise to a small side alley, set well away from the public areas. The buildings rose up around them, casting a deep shadow over the Charmed Ones as they ran.

They came upon two burly looking men, bald, clothed in leather and towering over a small woman, with long black hair. From the taunting any mortal onlooker would have just seen two men assaulting a woman, but the Charmed Ones knew better.

The men were demons, Brutes to be precise, and the woman was a witch.

One held an athame in his hand, as he swiped at the witch who yelled and jumped aside.

"Hey! Pick on someone your own size!" Piper shouted, as they spun to face the three witches. Piper quickly destroyed one, but the other smirked and threw a fireball at Paige and Phoebe.

Horrified, Phoebe pushed her sister aside, only to be catapulted backwards when the fireball hit her squarely in the chest. It burnt through her jacket and sweater, but that was nothing compared to the crushing pain which racked her spine as she hit the brick wall behind her.

"Phoebe!" Paige screamed, orbing to her sister's side immediately. Piper destroyed the last, before checking the witch was alright.

But she was in for a shock.

The witch's face darkened when she saw the death of the Brutes, as she lunged for the athame, bringing it up and going for Piper. Rolling her eyes, Piper jumped back.

"That's not nice, I just saved your life!" she shouted indignantly, as the warlock lunged for her again. With a quick jerk of her hand, the warlock disintegrated, screaming. "Warlocks," she sighed exasperatedly.

The eldest Halliwell rushed to her sister's side, bending over the middle sister concernedly, when she saw the burn.

"Come on, Phoebe hold on!" Paige muttered, holding her sister's limp hands, as Piper checked her pulse. It was weak and only getting worse.

"We need Leo. LEO!" she shouted, relieved when she heard the tinkling sound of incoming orbs.

Leo appeared, looking haunted and harassed. His face darkened even more when he saw Phoebe.

"What happened?" he demanded, rushing forward to kneel by her side, automatically stretching his hands out to heal her.

"Brute demons and a warlock. Phoebe pushed me out the way of an incoming fireball," Paige explained, as the golden glow emanated from the Elder's hands.

After a few seconds, Piper shifted impatiently. "Why isn't it working?" she demanded worriedly, as Leo frowned.

"I don't know," he growled through gritted teeth, as the strain began to show.

"Hold on, Phoebe. Hold on," Paige stroked her sister's long hair, begging her not to leave them.

* * *

Phoebe groaned and flipped herself over, before realising her problem.

"Uh…Piper? Paige!" she called, slowly standing up. The alleyway was deserted, and silent. The Brutes were gone, the witch was gone.

What the hell?

As Phoebe stood, she was aware of the strangely desolate feeling welling within her. Nothing moved, there wasn't even a wind. It was the end of October, and Phoebe didn't feel cold, but she didn't feel warm either.

"Ok, ok just think Phoebe. Think!" she muttered to herself, brushing her hair out of her eyes. She remembered the demon attack, she remembered being hit by a fireball…

"Oh no. Oh no, no, no! I am not dead!" she repeated frantically, as the truth sank in.

But her surroundings spoke for themselves.

She was in the Ghostly Plane.

Suddenly she felt voices in her mind, familiar ones.

_Hold on, Phoebe. Hold on…_

Paige.

She felt sudden warmth fill her body, and she shuddered.

Phoebe abruptly felt shivers break out over her skin, letting her know she was not alone. Someone else was stood behind her, in the alleyway's mouth.

Slowly she turned, letting out a yelp of surprise at the sight which greeted her eyes.

"Phoebe…" that same familiar voice dropped from the man's lips, an achingly familiar man, and Phoebe knew who had been whispering to her in her dreams.

"Gideon."

* * *

Gideon stood at the alley's entrance, dressed not in his usual Elder robes, or his schoolmaster's robes, but a long black overcoat covering his usual suit.

He watched her through intent blue eyes, as Phoebe froze at the sight of him.

"Leo vanquished you," she started slowly, obviously thinking it through. He nodded.

"I hadn't forgotten," he muttered, quietly sending shivers down Phoebe's spine. She frowned, but ignored the feeling.

"Am I dead then? Is that why I'm here?" she asked in quick succession, still keeping her distance from Gideon. The man who'd killed her nephew and tried to kill her other nephew.

Gideon sighed, when he noted her distance, but did not move closer.

"You're here not because you are dead, Phoebe, but because you are dying," he answered her question, a little enigmatically. Phoebe snorted in frustration.

"Why thanks for that Obi-Wan Kenobi," she muttered sarcastically.

"I merely answered your question," he replied, shrugging. Abruptly, Phoebe felt a surge of anger rise up, as she remembered she was standing in an alleyway, in the Ghostly Plane, with the man who had tried to destroy her world.

"What are you doing here?" she asked coolly, trying to control her anger for now. "Did you bring me here?"

"I did nothing to bring you here. In my position, it is a little difficult to do anything," Gideon replied mystically, at which Phoebe's temper snapped.

She stepped forward, grabbed Gideon by the lapels of his overcoat, and swung him against the wall.

"Look, buddy I am really not having a good day. First I've barely had any sleep, thanks to that damn vision your shaman gave me, then I go out and get myself mortally wounded in a demon attack and now I find myself trapped on the Ghostly Plane with the one person I really don't want to be near right now! So quit with all your mystical mumbo-jumbo and just tell me why you're here, how you're here and what the hell is going on?" she snarled into his face, riled even more by the unruffled look in his eyes.

He wasn't even _**bothered **_by the fact that she had him up against the wall of the alley. He was cool, calm and collectedly watching her from those blue, blue eyes of his.

Blue eyes like two polished sapphires, piercing into her soul…

Why the hell was she thinking like this, admiring Gideon's eyes?

But in that split second, when she realised what she was doing, and her grip on his forearms lessened, Gideon flipped them around, in a lightning fast move. Phoebe gasped when she felt the brick wall through the material of her jacket.

"Still the impatient one, I see," Gideon muttered, almost tauntingly and it made Phoebe even angrier.

"Let go of me, you nephew-murdering jerk!" she screamed, fighting against him all her strength, but he held her fast. She tried to move her legs, but he shifted between them, imprisoning her legs outside of his. Phoebe gasped at her newly intimate position with Gideon, shuddering slightly.

"Will you just listen?" he asked roughly, and Phoebe was surprised by the burning emotion she could now see in the usually controlled former Elder's eyes. Numbly, she nodded.

It wasn't like she could do much about it, anyway.

"Whether you believe it or not, I regret what happened with Chris. When Leo vanquished me, I saw the truth in my own actions, as well as my own redundant future, that it had been _I_ who caused Wyatt to turn. I saw all that would have been. I have spent the last few months in torment, unable to move on or to come back. Until now," he began, and Phoebe couldn't help but listen, enraptured by his refined, husky voice and English accent. "I cannot undo the past. I cannot heal the wounds I have caused, but there is something I _**must**_ do before I move on."

"What?" Phoebe asked, in a bare whisper.

Gideon sighed, looking down into Phoebe's wide eyes, noting how much she had softened against him.

"There is something I must accomplish, before I can move on. Something which nothing, not even Time, may change if the future is to remain on track," he told her, his eyes staring into the brick wall. His grip loosened around her wrists, and Phoebe twisted them free, but did not move as Gideon's now gentle eyes returned to hers. Spellbound, she couldn't move, uneasy as he continued to speak. "I can help you return to the mortal plane but I need you to do something. I need you to stay silent, and I need you to tell no-one that you have spoken with me. When the time comes, I need you to come to me, and to go further into the dreams I know have been plaguing you for months now."

"Why should I believe anything you say, Gideon?" Phoebe asked belligerently. "You tried to kill me and my family, you almost destroyed my world."

"No," Gideon shook his head urgently, his tone roughening again. She really wished he wouldn't do that, it was distracting her. "I could never kill you, Phoebe."

There was an emotion in his sad blue eyes which Phoebe didn't recognise, didn't know she wanted it there until today.

She backed away from him, as the voices of Paige and Piper continued whispering in her ear, telling her to hold on.

Gideon's voice snapped her back to her reality again.

"Ask yourself this, Phoebe. If it had been you in my position, seeing something threaten the very existence of the world as I did, what would you have done?" he asked her, plaintively.

Phoebe was a Charmed One. It had been her job for years now to destroy anything which could threaten the Innocent. She could see Gideon's viewpoint, but they differed on one thing.

She could never harm a child, who could've changed.

"I could never have harmed an innocent little boy," she whispered, "Not even to save the world."

She saw Gideon incline his head once, out the corner of her eye as she turned her back.

"They're trying to heal me. My sisters, they're here-there whatever," she murmured.

"I know. We don't have much time," Gideon muttered, as she turned around again. "I can help you, but I must know you will do what I ask."

Watching him consideringly, Phoebe pondered what to do. Finally she decided to do it, and just vanquish him again if it was a trick.

She nodded once, at which some of the tension in Gideon's taut frame eased slightly.

"Then come here," he breathed, holding out his hand. Suddenly nervous, Phoebe took it, letting him pull her to him. Gulping, she looked up into his eyes. "When the time comes…_remember_."

Phoebe frowned, when she felt his lips brush her forehead and then he tilted her head up with one hand, before covering her lips with his own.

Gasping in surprise, she tried to fight against the incredible sensation of his warm lips against her own, only to find, to her horror; that she sank against him and closed her eyes-

* * *

With a gasp, Phoebe sat bolt upright on the alley floor, opening her eyes to look up into the worried ones of Leo and her sisters.

"Phoebe!" as one they chorused, throwing their arms around her, as she stared around her in a daze, remembering the Ghostly Plane and everything that had happened.

That kiss…

Leo supported her as she stood, the cold October wind snaking through the thin barriers of her clothes.

_Remember_…

At that now known voice in her head, Phoebe looked up, just in time to see a swirl of purple orbs at the entrance of the alley, unseen by all but her.

He wanted her to remember, but remember what?

* * *

"Are you sure you don't wanna come, Phoebe?" Paige asked for the umpteenth time, as Phoebe lay on her bed at home, staring out the window.

She rolled her eyes at her sister's almost whiny question. Behind her Paige was dressed up in a devil outfit, complete with red PVC and glitter horns atop her brunette hair.

"I'm sure, Paige. I'm just gonna relax here tonight," she muttered, shifting slightly in bed. After she'd awoken, Paige had orbed her back home, while Piper brought the car, and she hadn't been able to get what had happened in the Ghostly Plane out of her head.

She hadn't been blind to all the worried glances Leo, Paige and Piper had been sending her, but she couldn't tell them. Regardless of everything Gideon had done, he had helped her and she had made him a promise.

"Well, if you're sure. Chris is at the babysitters', and Wyatt is with us, so you'll have plenty of peace and quiet," Paige muttered as Piper called for her from downstairs.

"Enjoy yourselves!" Phoebe called, as she heard the door close, and the sounds of a car starting up.

_Phoebe_…

At the sound of Gideon's voice in her head, she sat bolt upright, breathing heavily. She swung her legs off the bed and immediately went to her closet, to grab a coat to put over her jeans and sweater combo.

As she hurried around her room, she just caught a glimpse of Piper's car reversing out the driveway, the smart navy-blue paint gleaming with the light of a hundred carved pumpkins lining the estate.

For a moment, she hesitated, realising that she was betraying them.

But she couldn't not go. Not now.

"I'm so sorry, guys," she breathed, just as Gideon's voice reverberated in her head once again.

_Phoebe, come to me…_

"Yeah, I'm coming," she muttered once, before flicking her bedroom light off and leaving the manor.

* * *

Phoebe drove for what felt like hours, without really knowing for sure where she was going. She was just following an instinct which pulled her onward.

As she pulled up in the visitors' parking lot of Golden Gate Park, she mentally berated herself for the tenth time about going to meet Gideon.

The Elder had betrayed them all, had murdered Chris and had nearly altered the very fabric of the universe for chrissake, and she was giving him the benefit of the doubt!

But that kiss still lingered on her mind, and she was determined to find out what he so desperately wanted her to remember.

As she locked the car, she took a deep breath before stepping into the dark trees.

"Ready or not, here I come," she muttered.

* * *

As she trudged through the undergrowth, the forest utterly still around her, she thought about the man who was inexorably drawing her to him.

Why was she even doing this? Why was she drawn to him now?

Sure, she'd thought he was kind of cute, in a British, older man, old-fashioned kind of way, with those blue, blue eyes and that ash brown curly hair which just made you want to run your hands through it to muss it up even more. He was majestic and wise, and sometimes the aura of power around him had made her inhale raggedly.

But he was an Elder. Or rather _had_ been an Elder.

What he was now, Phoebe wasn't quite sure.

She'd thought Elders were supposed to be above the whole 'sins of the flesh' thing, but Gideon had surprised her in that alleyway in the Ghostly Plane. He had always seemed so serene, most of the time anyway, and that outburst of passion and strength had stolen her breath.

And her sense it seemed.

Inhaling brokenly, Phoebe drew her coat closer around herself, as she remembered other times he'd done that. When they'd fought the Tribunal for Daryl's life, he had been passionate then in the mortal's defence, and in theirs.

When he had lectured them on the importance of finding the demons who had been killing witches, during the Witch Wars incident, he had lost his serene façade for a second. Even then she realised how passionate he truly was beneath his schoolmaster's mask, and shuddered when she thought about what that passion had nearly accomplished.

The death of everyone she loved.

But then Phoebe, when she'd still had all her powers, had sensed the danger there, the sheer power beneath his skin. She just had never thought he would use it against her, against her sisters. She had trusted him.

But what baffled her now was why she _still_ trusted him.

Why she had not just let him kiss her, but kissed him back in the Ghostly Plane for all of about a second.

Even in his evil reality, he had secretly taken her breath away, when he'd placed his hand on her shoulder.

Almost tripping up on a tree root, Phoebe mentally lectured herself on the silliness of trying to think too much while walking in the pitch black night. She should've brought a torch.

Eventually, she stopped, sure she was lost now.

She swore loudly, before a growl behind her made her freeze in fear. She turned slowly, as the moon came out from behind a cloud, and illuminated the clearing in which she stood.

It was a wolf, large and leanly graceful, its fur almost silver in the moonlight.

It was also very familiar. It was the wolf which had led her to the shaman at Magic School.

What had she said? The wolf was a pack animal, but constantly searching for something she craved.

Was that why she saw it now? Was she finally going to discover what she had lost?

_Phoebe…_

That whisper in her head made her determined, as she stepped towards the wolf. It turned on its heels and trotted away, occasionally stopping and looking over its shoulder at her, as if scolding her for not keeping up.

Warm and tired now, Phoebe followed the wolf off the beaten walker's track, and into the depths of the park, right into the forest.

Finally they walked into another clearing, in the middle of which was a large boulder. The wolf trotted up to it, before peering invitingly over its shoulder at Phoebe, who stepped cautiously into the clearing, and towards the boulder.

As she got nearer, she realised a small vial lay on the boulder's surface, gleaming in the moonlight.

Just before she reached it, the wolf turned on its heels and trotted away.

Phoebe got the idea she wasn't meant to follow.

_Phoebe_…

"I know you're here, Gideon!" she called into the silent night. "I did as you asked, I came to you. What do you want?"

No answer.

Sighing, she gritted her teeth. "Because that would be just too easy. Even in death he's still doing his Obi-Wan Kenobi routine."

She glanced at the vial on the boulder, at the brown liquid inside. Not really knowing why she did it, she picked it up and popped the stopper, sniffing it suspiciously.

It smelt of bitter herbs, a familiar scent.

The vision quest potion she'd taken once before.

"Ok, how do I know this isn't a trick?" she asked the thin air, glaring at nothing in particular.

_You need to remember, to see it all…_

"See what all? Where are you, I know you're somewhere close!" Phoebe was fully aware she was shouting at empty air now, but she didn't care. She was hot, tired and aching after her long walk, and she wanted answers now!

"Why have you brought me here?" she called once more, angrily now.

_Always the impatient one, Phoebe. I didn't lure you out here to kill you, Phoebe, I brought you here so you could see what would have come, so you can understand my purpose here…_

Surprised by the, for Gideon, lengthy answer in her head, she glanced back at the vial.

"So you want me to drink this? Right?" she called again.

No answer.

She sighed in frustration. "Lemme guess, you don't answer when I ask a question I already know the answer to?"

Still not answer.

"I'll take that as a yes," she sighed, eying the potion in her hand dubiously. Exhaling grumpily, she shrugged. "What the hell, doesn't make sense for you to poison me after you saved my life."In one go, she downed the potion, forcing herself to relax as the acrid taste of bitter herbs raced down her throat, burning it.

When she opened her eyes, she was back in the familiar vision of her dreams.

* * *

Phoebe walked down the staircase of Halliwell Manor, the hallway dark and flickering sinisterly. She ignored the demons that rushed her, heading towards the pulsing golden light waiting for her, just like last time.

Unhurriedly she moved through it, into the sun-soaked, peaceful conservatory, where a child Wyatt and Chris sat playing.

"Wyatt, let your little brother play with the game too please," Piper appeared, holding a large stuffed bear under one arm. This time Phoebe didn't react when her eldest sister said that.

Paige appeared, in her teaching robe, asking Piper to take Phoebe to the doctor, as she looked down and realised she was pregnant.

"Yeah, sure I can," Piper murmured. "Gideon away again?"

Phoebe jumped at hearing his name, ignored by the future versions of her sisters.

"Yeah, he's communing with the Elders this weekend," Paige murmured, hurriedly as she disappeared.

Suddenly there came a familiar sound of someone orbing in behind her, and that familiar pair of warm arms hugged her from behind.

"Which isn't going to stop me from taking the mother of my child to the doctor's," his voice breathed in her ear, as Phoebe froze and spun in his arms. Gideon stood there, not in his teaching robe or in his Elder robes, but in plain jeans and an open-necked shirt.

The full implications of her vision crashed into her mind, as she stood there in a lost future.

If they hadn't saved Wyatt, Gideon would have been the father of her child.

* * *

With a gasp, Phoebe's eyes snapped open, once again stood in that dark clearing beneath a full moon.

Immediately she felt a presence behind her, and knew who it was without him having to speak.

"You were the father of my child, weren't you?" she breathed, barely able to speak from everything rushing through her.

She felt his answer like a rush of hot air against the nape of her neck.

"Yes."

* * *

"How?" she asked, still not looking at him. Gideon sighed behind her, achingly close. Phoebe wasn't sure she wanted him any closer.

"After Leo vanquished me, I was caught between life and death. And in that state, I was able to see all my past, my present and my future. I saw that it had been my attempts to kill Wyatt which turned him evil, and I saw that while you eventually recovered him, you never discovered that it had been I who had kidnapped him. You believed it was a demon," he explained. At that softly spoken comment, Phoebe turned and looked him in the eye.

"And us? How do we get together?" she asked. Gideon sighed again, but didn't move from under her gaze.

"That is a long story, and somewhat redundant now. I have until dawn until cross over," he told her, and finally she faced him, her frowning face luminous in the moonlight.

"Where does that leave us? Why did you show me our future if it's redundant?" she asked. Gideon regarded her seriously, through those blue eyes. In the moonlight they were transmuted to silver, and the burning flames in them made her shiver.

"That is why I have been given until dawn to cross over. There is something which must be accomplished, something important," he replied, again with that infuriating enigmatic quality which drove Phoebe crazy.

"WHAT!" she yelled, pushed beyond patience. In a flash of movement Gideon gathered her to his arms, and kissed her deeply. Taken by surprise, Phoebe froze before the drugging quality of his lips took over, and she stretched up in his hold, sliding her hands into his curly hair.

Abruptly Phoebe pulled back, her hands sliding down his coat lapels to fist, resting there, as she panted heavily against his mouth. "Wait, wait hang on. You're an Elder, we shouldn't be doing this-"

"Technically I'm not an Elder anymore, Phoebe. I retain the power to orb, but that is it. And there is every reason in the world that we should be doing this," he replied huskily.

"You said something had to be accomplished, before you cross over. What?" she breathed, trying to ignore how much her head was spinning at that moment.

"Time can be rewritten, Phoebe, but some events must still happen, are fixed in time. We may no longer have a future, but our daughter needs to be born otherwise…" Gideon trailed off, his tone still gentle, almost loving. Phoebe still couldn't believe she was standing here in his arms, the arms of the man who nearly destroyed her family.

Let alone considering his words. He was offering her her heart's desire, how could she say no?

And she couldn't deny that right now, she was frightened she was falling love with Gideon. Or rather, admitting she had been love with him for the first time.

Gideon's words penetrated her mind, and she frowned.

"Otherwise…what? What will happen if we don't- you know," she muttered, horrified to realise she was blushing. Gideon's eyes, while still intense, twinkled with amusement now.

"I don't know. The Elders weren't every forthcoming," he murmured, bending his head again.

"Gideon-" Phoebe tried to fend him off, sure that if he kissed her again, she wouldn't be able to muster up a coherent thought, let alone a coherent sentence.

"Just let me love you, for one night. Let me love you the way I should have done, before everything got in the way, from the moment I first set eyes on you at Magic School," he breathed against her lips, gently teasing her with his own. Phoebe shivered, and her lids fluttered shut. She let him kiss, actively kissed him back with an ardour she didn't know she possessed, holding herself as close to him as possible.

If they really did only have one night, then she wasn't about to waste it apart from him.

* * *

She refused to let him go even when he orbed them back to the Manor, straight into her bedroom, her fingers already working at the buttons of his overcoat, as she pulled him with her to the bed, lips still fused urgently.

She shrugged her own coat from her shoulders, before twining her arms around his neck, feeling his strong arms take her weight, a need she'd never experienced before driving her, driving them.

Not even Cole had ever made her feel like this.

She refused to let conscious thought intrude, as they fell back onto her bed, lips still joined, hands exploring, caressing, claiming.

If she only had one night to love him, then so be it. Nothing was going to get in the way.

* * *

_**If I get some positive reviews, I'll add another chapter, but this was just meant to be an oneshot. **_


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